Primary Document: Proposed Partnership Between NARA and American University to Digitize Key Bankruptcy Case Files File

We’ve heard from a number of people that they find reviewing publicly accessible proposals, contracts, and the like useful.

So, with that in mind here’s the full text (also embedded below) of a PROPOSED digitization partnership between the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), American University, and Professor Mary Hansen.

The proposal says that NARA will, “enter into a non-exclusive agreement with American University to digitize key documents from a one-percent sample of bankruptcy case files filed under the federal bankruptcy laws of 1898 and 1978 that are permanent, accessioned records in the physical and legal custody of NARA.”

The introduction also points out:

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is pursuing partnerships with organizations from a variety of sectors (private, public, non-profit, educational, government) as part of our strategy to digitize and make more accessible the historic holdings from the National Archives of the United States. These partnerships will enable the public to have electronic access to textual and microfilm records sooner than NARA itself can provide. The terms of each agreement may vary. The original holdings will always remain in the public domain, and access to digitized records will always be freely available in NARA’s research rooms. Copying will continue to be available in accordance with NARA’s fee schedule.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.